View source for Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester

{{short description|French nobleman and leader of the Albigensian Crusade (c. 1175–1218)}}
{{Distinguish|Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester}}

{{Infobox noble
| name = Simon de Montfort
| title = 5th Earl of Leicester
| image = File:Simon4demontfort.gif
| caption = Seal of Simon de Montfort, depicting him riding a horse and blowing a hunting horn with a hound alongside, inscribed with his [[List of Latinised names|Latinised]] name: ''SIGILL[UM] SIMONIS DE MONTE FORTI'' ("seal of Simon from the strong mountain")
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| more = no 
| succession = 
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| spouse = [[Alix de Montmorency]]
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| issue = [[Amaury de Montfort (died 1241)|Amaury de Montfort]]<br>[[Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester]]<br>[[Guy de Montfort, Count of Bigorre]]<br>[[Amicie de Montfort]]<br>Petronilla
| issue-link = 
| issue-pipe = 
| full name = 
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| noble family = [[House of Montfort|Montfort]]
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| father = [[Simon de Montfort (died 1188)|Simon de Montfort]]
| mother = [[Amice (Countess)|Amicia de Beaumont]]
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| birth_date = {{circa}} 1175
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| death_date = 25 June 1218 (aged 42–43)
| death_place = Siege of Toulouse
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| burial_place = [[Basilica of Saints Nazarius and Celsus|Cathedral of Saint-Nazaire]], Carcassonne, later moved to Montfort l'Amaury
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}}
'''Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester''' ({{circa|lk=no|1175}} – 25 June 1218), known as '''Simon IV''' (or '''V'''{{efn|The discrepancy in numbering arises from confusion between [[Simon III de Montfort]] (died 1181) and his son [[Simon de Montfort (died 1188)]]. The latter was historically unknown, and Simon III was believed to be the father (not the grandfather)<ref>{{cite book |last=Cokayne|first=G. E.|author-link=George Edward Cokayne|date=1929|title=The Complete Peerage|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.210885|location=London|publisher=St Catherine Press|edition=2nd|volume=7|page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.210885/page/n728 716]}}</ref> of the subject of this article, who is therefore known as Simon IV in some sources<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Toulouse|title=Battle of Toulouse|last=Phillips|first=Charles|website=Encyclopædia Britannica Online|access-date=5 June 2019}}</ref> and Simon V in others.{{sfn|Lippiatt|2017|p=xvii}}}}) '''de Montfort''' and as '''Simon de Montfort the Elder''', was a French nobleman and knight of the early 13th century. He is widely regarded as one of the great military commanders of the [[Middle Ages]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rogers|first=Clifford J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mzwpq6bLHhMC&q=clifford+rogers+battle+of+muret&pg=RA2-PA37|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology|date=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-533403-6|pages=37|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Oman|first=Charles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ue5hyJlCGzcC&q=charles+oman+battle+of+muret&pg=PT553|title=A History of the Art of War: The Middle Ages from the Fourth to the Fourteenth Century|date=2012|publisher=Tales End Press|isbn=978-1-62358-003-2|pages=534|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Marvin|first=Laurence W.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NlLPaBcCn2QC|title=The Occitan War: A Military and Political History of the Albigensian Crusade, 1209–1218|date=2008|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-47014-8|pages=193|language=en}}</ref> He took part in the [[Fourth Crusade]] and was one of the prominent figures of the [[Albigensian Crusade]]. Montfort is mostly noted for his campaigns in the latter, notably for his battle at [[Battle of Muret|Muret]]. He died at the [[Siege of Toulouse (1217–1218)|Siege of Toulouse]] in 1218. He was [[Seigneur of Montfort|Lord of Montfort]] from 1188 to his death and [[Earl of Leicester]] in England from 1204. He was also Viscount of [[Albi]], [[Béziers]] and [[Carcassonne]] from 1213, as well as [[Count of Toulouse]] from 1215.

==Early life==
He was the son of [[Simon de Montfort (died 1188)|Simon de Montfort]] (d. 1188), lord of [[Montfort l'Amaury]] in France near Paris, and [[Amice (Countess)|Amicia de Beaumont]],{{sfn|Dunbabin|2011|p=xv}} daughter of [[Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester]]. He succeeded his father as lord of Montfort in 1181; in 1190 he married [[Alix de Montmorency]],{{sfn|Dunbabin|2011|p=xv}} the daughter of Bouchard III de Montmorency. She shared his religious zeal and would accompany him on his campaigns.<ref>{{cite book |title=Simon de Montfort |last=Maddicott |first=John Robert |page=5 |year=1994 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge}}</ref>

In 1199, while taking part in a [[Tournament (medieval)|tournament]] at [[Asfeld|Ecry-sur-Aisne]], he took the cross in the company of Count [[Thibaud III of Champagne|Thibaud de Champagne]] and went on the [[Fourth Crusade]]. The crusade soon fell under [[Venice|Venetian]] control, and was diverted to [[Zadar|Zara]] on the [[Adriatic Sea]]. [[Pope Innocent III]] had specifically warned the Crusaders not to attack fellow Christians; Simon opposed the attack and urged a waiting Zara delegation not to surrender, claiming the Frankish troops would not support the Venetians in this. As a result, the delegation returned to Zara and the city resisted.<ref>{{cite book |title=City of Fortune: How Venice won and lost a Naval Empire |last=Crowley |first=Roger |page=54 |year=2011 |publisher=Bloomsberry House |location=London}}</ref> Since most Frankish lords were in debt to the Venetians, they did support the attack and the city was sacked in 1202. Simon did not participate in this action and was one of its most outspoken critics. He and his associates, including Abbot [[Guy of Vaux-de-Cernay]], left the crusade when the decision was taken to divert once more to [[Constantinople]] to place [[Alexius IV Angelus]] on the throne. Instead, Simon and his followers travelled to the court of [[Emeric, King of Hungary|King Emeric]] of Hungary and thence to [[Akko|Acre]].<ref>Phillips, Jonathan. ''The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople'', 2004. p. 137.</ref>

His mother was the eldest daughter of Robert of Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester. After the death of her brother [[Robert de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Leicester]], without children in 1204, she inherited half of his estates and a claim to the [[Earl of Leicester|Earldom of Leicester]]. The division of the estates was effected early in 1207, by which the rights to the earldom were assigned to Amicia and Simon. However, King [[John of England]] took possession of the lands himself in February 1207, and confiscated its revenues. Later, in 1215, the lands were passed into the hands of Simon's cousin, [[Ranulph de Meschines, 4th Earl of Chester]].

==Later life==
Simon remained on his estates in France before taking the cross once more, this time against suspected Christian dissidence. He participated in the initial campaign of the [[Albigensian Crusade]] in 1209, and after the fall of [[Carcassonne]], was elected leader of the crusade and viscount of the confiscated territories of the [[Trencavel|Raymond-Roger Trencavel]] family.

Simon was rewarded with the territory conquered from [[Raymond VI of Toulouse]], which in theory made him the most important landowner in [[Occitania]]. He became feared for his ruthlessness. In 1210 he burned 140 [[Cathars]] in the village of [[Minerve, Hérault|Minerve]] who refused to recant – though he spared those who did. In another widely reported incident, prior to the sack of the village of [[Lastours]], he brought prisoners from the nearby village of [[Bram, Aude|Bram]] and had their eyes gouged out and their ears, noses and lips cut off. One prisoner, left with a single good eye, led them into the village as a warning.

Simon's part in the crusade had the full backing of his feudal superior, the King of France, [[Philip Augustus]]. However, historian [[Alistair Horne]], in his book ''Seven Ages of Paris,'' states that Philip "turned a blind eye to Simon de Montfort's crusade&nbsp;... of which he disapproved, but readily accepted the spoils to his exchequer". Following the latter's success in winning [[Normandy]] from [[John Lackland]] of England, he was approached by [[Pope Innocent III|Innocent III]] to lead the crusade but turned this down. He was heavily committed to defending his gains against John and against the emerging alliance among England, the Empire and Flanders.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

However, Philip claimed full rights over the lands of the house of St Gilles; some historians believe his dispatch of de Montfort and other northern barons to be, at the very least, an exploratory campaign to reassert the rights of the French Crown in [[Le Midi]]. Philip may well also have wanted to appease the [[Pope|papacy]] after the long dispute over his marriage, which had led to excommunication. He also sought to counter any adventure by King John of England, who had marriage and fealty ties also with the Toulouse comtal house. Meanwhile, others have assessed Philip's motives to include removing over-mighty subjects from the North, and distracting them in adventure elsewhere, so they could not threaten his increasingly successful restoration of the power of the French crown in the north.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

Simon is described as a man of unflinching religious orthodoxy, deeply committed to the [[Dominican order]] and the uprooting of [[heresy]]. Dominic Guzman, later [[Saint Dominic]], spent several years during the war in the Midi at Fanjeau, which was Simon's headquarters, especially in the winter months when the crusading forces were depleted. Simon had other key confederates in this enterprise, which many historians view as a conquest of southern lands by greedy men from the north. Many of them had been involved in the Fourth Crusade. One was Guy Vaux de Cernay, head of a [[Cistercian]] abbey not more than twenty miles from Simon's patrimony of Montfort Aumary, who accompanied the crusade in the Languedoc and became bishop of [[Carcassonne]]. Meanwhile, Peter de Vaux de Cernay, the nephew of Guy, wrote an account of the crusade. Historians generally consider this to be propaganda to justify the actions of the crusaders; Peter justified their cruelties as doing "the work of God" against morally depraved heretics. He portrayed outrages committed by the lords of the Midi as the opposite.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

Simon was an energetic campaigner, rapidly moving his forces to strike at those who had broken their faith with him – and there were many, as some local lords switched sides whenever the moment seemed propitious. {{Citation needed|date=November 2021}} The Midi was a warren of small fortified places, as well as home to some highly fortified cities, such as [[Toulouse]], [[Carcassonne]] and [[Narbonne]]. Simon showed ruthlessness and daring as well as being particularly brutal with those who betrayed their pledges – as for example, Martin Algai, lord of Biron.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sumption|first1=Jonathan|title=The Albigensian Crusade|url=https://archive.org/details/albigensiancrusa00jona|url-access=registration|date=1978|publisher=Faber|isbn=0-571-20002-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/albigensiancrusa00jona/page/149 149]|edition=1999 paperback}}</ref> In 1213 Simon defeated [[Peter II of Aragon]] at the [[Battle of Muret]]. This completed the defeat of the [[Albigensians]], but Simon carried on the campaign as a war of conquest. He was appointed lord over all the newly acquired territory as [[Count of Toulouse]] and [[Duke of Narbonne]] (1215). He spent two years in warfare in many parts of Raymond's former territories; he besieged [[Beaucaire, Gard|Beaucaire]], which had been taken by [[Raymond VII of Toulouse]], from 6 June 1216 to 24 August 1216.
[[File:Toulouse - Plaque de Simon de Monfort.jpg|thumb|Plaque commemorating the death of Simon de Montfort]]
Raymond spent most of this period in the [[Crown of Aragon]], but corresponded with sympathisers in Toulouse. There were rumours in September 1216 that he was on his way to [[Toulouse]]. Abandoning the siege of Beaucaire, Simon partially sacked Toulouse, perhaps intended as punishment of the citizens. Raymond returned in October 1217 to take possession of Toulouse. Simon hastened to besiege the city, meanwhile sending his wife, [[Alix de Montmorency]], with bishop [[Folquet de Marselha|Foulques of Toulouse]] and others, to the French court to plead for support. After maintaining the siege for nine months, Simon was killed on 25 June 1218 while combating a sally by the besieged. His head was smashed by a stone from a [[mangonel]], operated, according to one source, by the {{lang|pro|donas e tozas e mulhers}} ("ladies and girls and women") of Toulouse.<ref>''[[Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise]]'' laisse 205.</ref> He was buried in the [[Basilica of Saints Nazarius and Celsus|Cathedral of Saint-Nazaire]] at Carcassonne.<ref>''[[Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise]]'' laisse 206; [[Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay]], ''[[Historia Albigensis]]'' 615.</ref> His body was later moved by one of his sons to be reinterred at Montfort l'Amaury. A tombstone in the south transept of the cathedral is inscribed "of Simon de Montfort".

==Children==
Simon and Alix had:
* [[Amaury de Montfort (died 1241)|Amaury de Montfort]]{{sfn|Lippiatt|2017|p=xvii}} married Beatrix of Viennois, died in 1241 returning from the [[Barons' Crusade]]
* [[Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester]],{{sfn|Dunbabin|2011|p=xv}} married [[Eleanor of England, Countess of Leicester|Eleanor of England]], killed at the [[Battle of Evesham]] on 4 August 1265
* [[Guy de Montfort, Count of Bigorre]], married [[Petronilla, Countess of Bigorre|Petronille, Countess of Bigorre]],{{sfn|Dunbabin|2011|p=xv}} on 6 November 1216 and died at the siege of [[Castelnaudary]] on 20 July 1220
* [[Amicie de Montfort]], married Gaucher de Joigny,{{sfn|Dunbabin|2011|p=xv}} founded the convent at [[Montargis]] and died there in 1252
* Petronilla, became abbess of the [[Cistercian nunnery]] of St. Antoine's{{sfn|Lippiatt|2017|p=xvii}}

==Inheritance==
His French estates passed to his eldest son, Amaury, while his second son, Simon, eventually gained possession of the earldom of Leicester and played a major role in the reign of [[Henry III of England]]. He led the barons' rebellion against Henry during the [[Second Barons' War]], and subsequently became the de facto ruler of England. 

==Note==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book |first=Jean |last=Dunbabin |title=The French in the Kingdom of Sicily, 1266–1305 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2011 }}
*{{cite book |title= Simon V of Montfort and Baronial Government, 1195–1218 |first=G.E.M. |last=Lippiatt |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2017 }}
*Sumption, Jonathan. ''The Albigensian Crusade'', 2000
*{{CathEncy|wstitle=Simon de Montfort}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|Simon IV of Montfort}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg|en}}
{{succession box
| title = [[Earl of Leicester]]
| before = [[Robert de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Leicester|Robert de Beaumont]]
| after = [[Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester|Simon de Montfort]]
| years = 1206–1218
}}
{{s-reg}}
{{s-bef
| before = [[Raymond Roger Trencavel]]
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[Viscount of Béziers]],<br>[[Viscount of Albi|Albi]] and [[Viscount of Carcassonne|Carcassonne]]
| years = 1209–1218
}}
{{s-aft
| rows = 2
| after = [[Amaury de Montfort (died 1241)|Amaury de Montfort]]
}}

{{s-bef
| before = [[Bernard Ato VI]]
}}
{{s-ttl
| title = [[Viscount of Nîmes]]
| years = 1214–1218
}}

{{s-bef
| before = [[Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse|Raymond VI]]
}}
{{s-dis|title=[[Count of Toulouse]]|years=1215–1218|by=[[Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse|Raymond VI]]}}
{{s-aft
| after = [[Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse|Raymond VI]]
}}

{{S-bef
| before = [[Simon de Montfort (died 1188)|Simon IV de Montfort]]
}}
{{S-dis| title = [[Lord of Montfort-l'Amaury]]| years = c.1188–1218}}
{{S-aft
| after = [[Amaury VI de Montfort]]
}}

{{S-end}}{{Authority control}}
{{Portal bar|Christianity|England|Middle Ages}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leicester, Simon De Montfort, 5th Earl Of}}
[[Category:1170s births]]
[[Category:1218 deaths]]
[[Category:Lord High Stewards]]
[[Category:House of Montfort|Simon]]
[[Category:Christians of the Fourth Crusade]]
[[Category:People of the Albigensian Crusade]]
[[Category:Medieval French knights]]
[[Category:13th-century French military personnel]]
[[Category:Military personnel killed in action]]
[[Category:Dukes of Narbonne|Simon]]
[[Category:Earls of Leicester (1107 creation)|5th Earl of Leicester]]
[[Category:Counts of Toulouse|Simon]]
[[Category:12th-century English nobility]]
[[Category:13th-century peers of France]]
[[Category:Seigneur of Montfort|Simon]]